Drippings from the Honeycomb
More to be desired are [the rules of the Lord] than gold, even much fine gold; sweeter also than honey and drippings of the honeycomb. (Psalm 19:10)
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It was once quite common, even superstitiously so, for Christians to write DV on everything. DV is Latin, Deo volente, or ‘God willing.’ It is taken from James 4:15 in the context of one boasting about what they will do tomorrow. It says, “Instead you ought to say, ‘If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.’”
Many things can throw off the best laid plans: weather, illness, natural disaster, crime or evil, world events, etc. Just this past weekend I was healthy with plans on the horizon. A trip to a walk in clinic revealed I had a scalp infection. Three days later a trip to emergency diagnosed me with a bad case of facial shingles. One moment healthy and then next moment contagiously, uncomfortably ill. Such scenarios will happen many times in our lives (if they haven’t happened already). It is very wise to make plans. However, it is equally wise to hold them lightly, entrusting them to the providence of God. Prov 16:19 says, “The heart of man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his steps.” We won’t always know why God’s plan was different than our plans. (But as finite beings we must humble ourselves before the infinite). Sometimes His plans will be easier to accept than others. Sometimes it is part of His providence to sanctify us, sometimes it is for discipline. Whatever the case, if we are His children, we can rest assured that it comes from an all wise, good and sovereign heavenly Father. I’ve always loved how an old catechism puts this. “…All things come to us not by chance but by His Fatherly hand” for the purpose of “…becoming patient in adversity and thankful in prosperity…”[1] So may we all learn to truly say each day, “DV, God willing.” [1] https://www.heidelberg-catechism.com/en/lords-days/10.html The story of Balaam and the Donkey is a famous Bible story.
In Numbers 22 a false prophet named Balaam is set on cursing God’s people even though God has told him not too. His heart is so hard that the magician cannot even see the angel blocking his path, although his donkey can. It is a hilarious story! When I was a teenager my pastor invited me to a preaching seminar held at seminary. The guest speaker was an Irish preacher, and using some Irish wit as perhaps only the Irish can, he commented on this story. He said, “whether preacher or parishioner, we’ll all listen to preaching. A lesson we can learn from Balaam is that if God can speak through an ass, he can speak through you and I. So when you listen to preaching sit down, shut up and listen.’ I wouldn’t have phrased it that way but he was essentially saying that if the preacher be faithful and we have patience to listen, we will hear from the Lord. I have been blessed by applying his wisdom through the years. It is not wrong to desire fine preaching, however, it is more important that the preacher be faithful. If we listen to faithful preaching we will be blessed.
I was blessed to give at New Life Camp for another round of junior campfire talks. This year was bee themed. We looked at the sting of death (1 Cor 15) and tasting and seeing that the LORD Is good (Ps 34:8).
Tell your children of it, and let your children tell their children, and their children to another generation. (Joel 1:3)
While speaking primarily to parents, every generation the church faces extinction and the Great Commission calls us to share the Good News with all ages, including children. While a whole family focus is important in evangelism, statistically 64% of Christians become a Christian before they are 18. God has been incredibly gracious to allow me to be involved in children’s (and youth) ministries through the years.
Apart from immense gratitude, what have I learned to value about this ministry?:
On Wednesday, July 1, 2026, many will attend a bbq, some organized festivities and maybe even fireworks. It is Canada Day.
Did you know, however, that Canada Day used to be called Dominion Day as Canada’s formal name is ‘The Dominion of Canada.’[1] This name was suggested by the Father of Confederation, an evangelical Methodist, Leonard Tilley. It takes its inspiration from Ps 72:8, “He shall have dominion from sea to sea.” Christ was to have dominion over the country of Canada. The first Dominion Days were of little significance as our identity was caught up in Empire. However, after WWII Canada increasingly came to see itself as part of the Commonwealth but an independent country. The old Dominion ensign was replaced with a new national flag in 1965. A generation later, in 1982, Dominion Day was changed to Canada Day. However, it was a late night and hot July day when the private members bill to change the name was introduced (the government bill never passed). Only 13 MPs were present when it passed all three readings. (The Opposition called the move, ‘sneaky.’[2]). It was part of Trudeau’s plan to recast Canada as a secular and multi-cultural country (aware of not only the Imperial but the Christian overtones of Dominion Day). While there were protests to bring back Dominion Day, most Canadians saw it as inevitable progress towards independent national identity. Most did not grasp the religious significance. Nostalgic bids to return to Dominion Day continue but lack any realistic political support. However, as ‘Canada Day’ has come to be morally empty—Trudeau Jr. said Canada was a ‘post-national state’ with ‘no core identity, no mainstream in Canada’[3]—Dominion Day does become an attractive alternative. Sure, we can celebrate a vague sense of freedom, however, this is nothing close to as enriching as a country ruled by Christ and His laws. While Christ rules in heaven most Canadians reject Him in their heart. As always, the best expression of patriotism is to evangelistically proclaim the Lordship of Christ afresh until post-Christian Canada is reached for Christ. This is true love of neighbour. True dominion is not ultimately won in political arenas but experienced in one heart at a time. In the meantime, we can thank the Lord for our Christian heritage as we pray and work a revival of Christ’s dominion. [1] While still technically true, use of Dominion was dropped in 1951. [2] https://www.cbc.ca/archives/canada-day-1982-1.6496279 [3] https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/jan/04/the-canada-experiment-is-this-the-worlds-first-postnational-country A series of short devotionals given on an 11 km June youth outing on the Bruce Trail.
Lesson 1- Start Welcome to the Bruce Trail! It is 933 km long. It goes all the way to the right to the Niagara River at Queenston Heights and all the way to the left to Tobermory at the tip of the Bruce Penninsula. It is Canada’s longest hiking trail; but don’t worry, we’re only going to walk 11 km. The Bible is full of the imagery of paths, trails, roads and races (c.f. Ps 119:105, Jn 14:6). Today as we journey we’re going to pause to talk about Entering, Staying On and Finishing God’s Path. Just like starting the trail, one has to personally enter onto God’s path. It is not enough to be from a Christian family. We must, each one, turn and trust in Jesus to become a Christian, enter the path and begin to follow Jesus. At each stop a youth will read a short passage and then we’ll answer some simple questions as a group. A youth reads: Matt 7:13-14 Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few. Questions: What is this passage saying, what do we need to know to be able to understand it better, what is it saying about God, us, and what is it asking us to do? If you’ve already enter, praise the Lord for His salvation as you walk. If you’ve not enter, don’t think about anything else, as nothing more than this is so important. Lesson 2- Middle You have to be careful walking the Bruce Trail. There are lots of cliffs, roots, poison ivy, turns where you may get lost. You must follow the white blazes! The same is true along God’s path. There are many trials and temptation in which Satan would slow us down or lead us astray. However, if we’d grow and become like Jesus we must continue to trust God’s word and walk in His ways. A youth reads: Dt 5:32-33 “You shall be careful therefore to do as the Lord your God has commanded you. You shall not turn aside to the right hand or to the left. You shall walk in all the way that the Lord your God has commanded you, that you may live, and that it may go well with you, and that you may live long in the land that you shall possess.” Questions: What is this passage saying, what do we need to know to be able to understand it better, what is it saying about God, us, and what is it asking us to do? Are we trusting the Lord and following His Word? Where may we need to turn back in our life? Let’s think about His way as we press on. Lesson 3- Near the end Almost 11 km is a lot of work! So is life and following Jesus. It requires perseverance (thankfully something God provides for His children by His grace so that we persevere to the end). Sometimes the Bible speaks about following Jesus as a path but sometimes as a race. Anyone guess the world record for running the Bruce Trail? (A- 8 days, 17 hours). Only the one who perseveres and completes the race get’s the price of salvation. A youth reads: 1 Cor 9:24 Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it. Questions: What is this passage saying, what do we need to know to be able to understand it better, what is it saying about God, us, and what is it asking us to do? So let us not give up, let’s fix our eyes upon Jesus, ask for His help, and continue to follow him; persevering to the end to win the prize! I’ve kept a blog as a spiritual discipline since 2015, including the 7 years since I have been at MBC. The blog is called Drippings from the Honeycomb (Ps 19:10b), as they are my reflections (drippings) from God’s Word (the honeycomb).
The blogs vary in length (short, medium and long) and in subjects (e.g. covering current events, theology, Bible passages, morality, church health, the Gospel, discipleship, FAQ, etc). Since coming to MBC there have been about 350 blogs posted. With the advent of AI you can now even go to Google and type “Markdale Baptist Church blog…what does Pastor Chris believe about _____” to get a summary and links. You can also find blogs through the search bar of our website (top right) or find different blogs by date or subject on the blog sidebar. While some special blogs take longer,[1] I usually invest 30-90 minutes each week on most. While many outside of the church read the blog,[2] as a local shepherd, responsible for feeding his sheep, I write these blogs for MBC:
[1] For example, when Israel invaded Gaza I wanted to get my own head around the conflict and so shared my findings here. [2] E.g. a blog called ‘What was Satan Doing in Heaven’ is the all time most viewed page on our website—obviously not all people from MBC! Concluding our series on our church covenant (find earlier blogs here and our actual covenant here), we press into 1. 3.10:
We moreover engage, that when we remove from this place, we will as soon as possible unite with another other church, where we can carry out the spirit of this covenant, and the principles of God's Word. When we moved overseas we not only needed to get a bank account, a phone, groceries and insurance but within weeks we’d not only found a local church but joined it. Baptism and membership are how we express our universal membership in the church (and how the church recognizes who represents Jesus, Mt 16:19, 18:18; Acts 2:41).[1] It isn’t optional but an elementary expression of Christian discipleship. It was so elementary for us it ranked high on our priority list. Sadly, many Canadian ‘evangelicals’ believe differently than our church and so there is much we can do to encourage and teach on and live out church membership. A recent state of theology Canada survey found that only 37% (18–34), 33% (35-49), 23% (50–64) and 18% (65+) believe that every Christian has an obligation to join a local church (note this is lessens the older one is).[2] Not only do we believe membership is a biblical principle (and that our covenant contains biblical principles), we also believe that the spirit of our covenant is important too: faithfulness, relationality, love, commitment, holiness, piety, generosity, etc. So may we all commit to a local church and may we all help each other faithfully fulfill our church covenant that expresses basic Christian responsibilities and privileges for our good and God’s glory. [1] The Baptist Catechism, Question #101 What is the duty of such who are rightly baptized? It is the duty of such who are rightly baptized to give up themselves to some particular and orderly church of Jesus Christ, that they may walk in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless.¹ ¹ Acts 2:41–42; 5:13–14; 9:26; 1 Peter 2:5; Luke 1:6 https://baptistcatechism.org/101/ [2] Older Christians were more greatly influenced by anti-institutionalism and post-modernism; younger Christians desire cohesiveness in chaos. |
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